Addressing an election meeting in Alappuzha, in support of G. Krishnaprasad, the Left Democratic Front's candidate for Haripad, Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan said the safety of nuclear plants was a major concern, not only in India but across the world.

The nuclear crisis in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami should serve as a warning for India, which has been ‘following the dictates of the U.S.' in the nuclear deal, Communist Party of India general secretary A.B. Bardhan said on Thursday.

Addressing an election meeting here in support of G. Krishnaprasad, the Left Democratic Front's candidate for Haripad, Mr. Bardhan said the safety of nuclear plants was a major concern, not only in India but across the world. When the United Progressive Alliance government tried to push through the deal with the U.S., the Left parties, then supporting the government from outside, opposed it for this very same reason.

Compared with Japan, India was weaker in revival and survival skills and vulnerable to such disasters, he said. Even the public now realised what the Left had meant, but not the Congress-led government.

Mr. Bardhan said the Left could not influence the government's economic and foreign policies, especially after it withdrew support to the ruling coalition and its strength in Parliament dwindled. But the results were evident. The price rise situation was only getting worse, with the UPA ignoring all the suggestions of the Left to tackle it. India was now the largest buyer of weapons from the U.S. and even Israel.

The UPA was silent on the Libyan crisis too: the U.S. was acting as if it were trying to rescue democracy in that country, even while massacring thousands of innocents, he said. Col. Muammar Qadhafi was a “stooge” of the U.S. When the U.S. felt that Libya was slipping out of its hands, it launched the attack.

Mr. Bardhan said the United Democratic Front in Kerala was caught in an internal turmoil, with its own members levelling allegations against one another. Even Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala was now embroiled in a controversy after using a helicopter during campaign.